Gordon Brown reignites war of words with SNP

Scottish National Party offering friendship in one hand and holding other ready to punch Britain, says former Prime Minister

Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused Nigel Farage of framing the EU referendum as 'a more basic emotional choice' (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned on Saturday that the Scottish National Party was offering one hand of friendship to the United Kingdom, while holding the other hand ready to punch Britain apart.

He began a new war of words with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon while helping Labour’s general election efforts in Edinburgh.

Ms Sturgeon had used a speech at her party’s conference to insist that a message of “friendship and solidarity” was extended across the UK.

She said: “To ordinary people across these islands who feel just as let down by the out-of-touch Westminster system as we do, I have a very clear message. It is a message of friendship and solidarity.”

But Mr Brown leapt on her words while visiting Liberton High School, where he was supporting local candidate Ian Murray in Edinburgh South.

He said: “Mrs Sturgeon is announcing today that she is offering the hand of friendship to the rest of the people of Britain. I know that that this means to offer the right hand of friendship to keep the left hand free to deliver the knockout blow to break Britain apart."

He added: "Who would you trust with the NHS ... the Labour Party that was prepared to go to the people of the country, as I had to do at the beginning of the century, and say: 'We have to raise taxes, national insurance so that we can pay for a better health service in the future?'

"Or the SNP or any other party in Scotland, who have never bothered to ask the Scottish people to put more money into the NHS?" Their only policy during the referendum was to cut corporation tax for the richest companies in Scotland by 3p, and the biggest beneficiaries would have been SSE and the other privatised utilities."